In The Endless Days Of Youth
by Shadow Padawan
Summary: What started out as curiosity got a bit out of hand and Merlin only knows where it might have ended up if it weren't for the war. LM/AL, LM/NM.


When his son turned sixteen, Abraxas Malfoy called the boy into his study and asked if he was prepared to give him a name. It was a warn summer night with the flowerbeds in the garden in full bloom. Their scent carried up to the study to mingle with the smells of parchment, candles and seal wax.

When Lucius arrived he stood before his father and waited to be addressed. When Abraxas posed the question, the boy clasped both hands behind his back and intoned, "Narcissa Black." He had been prepared for this.

Abraxas nodded his approval, reminded Lucius that he could not court formally until Narcissa came out then excused him so he could pen a letter to Cygnus, announcing the good news. _I'm glad, _he wrote, _that all of our planning had come to such an easy end. From what you have given me to understand, your daughter will be amenable to this courtship._

The initial marriage contract was drafted and agreed on before Lucius returned to Hogwarts for his sixth year.

* * *

><p>"Well, it makes good sense," Lucius told his friends on the first day of classes as he followed them down to the quidditch pitch. "Narcissa is a Black – which speaks for itself – quite lovely, mild-mannered – unlike some members of her family – and we get along well."<p>

"You mean aside from that time she tried to turn you into a ferret?" Tony Dolohov asked, smirking.

"Yes, that was quite unfortunate," Lucius conceded thoughtfully. "I spent a week in the hospital wing after that incident."

"Well, no loss, you had us to entertain you. And you had an excuse to not go to History of Magic, which is already a win in my book," Rookwood noted, swinging his broom around somewhat wildly in his excitement.

"Hm. Well, either way, I can't go to the Blacks with an Intent to Court until after Narcissa comes out in the spring, but given how many times my father and Cygnus Black met for some private brandy over the past couple of months, I would wager that the contract has already been drafted."

"Oi! What's this?" Rodolphus interrupted, pointing to where a group of Gryffindors was making their way onto the pitch from the other side. "I didn't know the buggers had a team practice today."

"They don't," Antonin said, rolling his eyes. "Nor does Slytherin. They're here like we are…of their own accord."

"That's helpful," Rodolphus muttered sarcastically. "Now can we get them out of here? It's too early in the week to have to deal with felines."

Lucius observed the group of Gryffindors as his friends began to haggle with them about who was at the pitch first. There were five of them: Molly Prewett's brothers, a mudblood sixth year whose name Lucius did not deign to recall, Corbin Witchens – a bloody idiot of a halfblood – and a fifth year girl who looked very familiar. It took Lucius a few moments before he realized who she was: Alice Prewett, a distant cousin of the Prewett boys.

"What are you doing here Ms. Prewett?" Lucius asked, cutting straight into the argument going on around him and making everyone fall silent from surprise. "Decent Pureblood girls are not supposed to play quidditch, especially with scumbags like that oaf." Lucius nodded at the mudblood.

"Wha—?" Alice was obviously taken aback for a moment, almost as though she didn't realize that she _was _a Pureblood. Finally, she gathered her composure and pulled her shoulders back. "Who said anything about me being decent, at least in the sense that you mean it?"

"I like to assume the best of ladies," Lucius shot back with a smug smirk.

"Don't try to weasel your way, Malfoy," Witchens snarled. "We were here first."

"Like hell!" Augustus piped up.

"I know what we will do," Lucius said, still looking at Alice. She was squirming slightly, obviously uncomfortable under his determined look. "We will play for it. No snitch, first to five goals. If you win, you get the pitch. And if we win, you still get the pitch, but Ms. Prewett owes me a date."

"What?"

"Lucius!"

"Malfoy, you don't even play quidditch!"

His friends exploded in a furry of squawking protests. They sounded like a bunch of pigeons to him. "I know, but you lot do."

"You want us to win you a date?" Antonin gave him a burning look. "Seriously?"

Lucius rolled his eyes. "You owe me one, Dolohov. If it weren't for me at the Mulciber gala, Mrs. Black wouldn't have taken her eyes off of Bella for one—"

"Alright, alright!" Antonin's cheeks colored just slightly. "I do owe him one," he admitted, looking at the others sheepishly.

"Well I don't," Edward Parkinson insisted. "And we need to practice!"

"Eddie, come here you dolt." Lucius grabbed the other boy by the sleeve and pulled him closer. "This _will _be practice. Three of these smartasses are on the Gryffindor team," Lucius explained in a hiss so that only his friends could hear, "you'll get a nice little preview of how they play. You'll also get to see Prewett's pretty ass on a broom. Maybe even get a look down her shirt if you fly high enough. _And _it will be a good half an hour before anyone scores five goals. You'll be playing the entire time. Better than standing around arguing."

They all looked at him, then nodded slowly. "Alright, let's play for it," Antonin announced, taking on the leadership role as he was prone to do.

"Wait a second, we didn't agree to this," Fabian Prewett objected. "Alice isn't for sale."

"I can take care of myself, thanks," she snapped, but her cousin wasn't paying attention.

"I didn't offer to buy her, did I?" Lucius drew out contemptuously. "I offered to win her."

"You mean you offered we win her," Rodolphus muttered but everyone ignored him.

"I'm in," Alice said, tossing her head. Lucius smiled in amusement.

* * *

><p>Lucius waited for Alice to join him at the small café he had chosen for their date during the first Hogsmeade weekend. She came in with her head high and her shoulders rolled back, the light autumn coat she wore open and flaring out behind her in the breeze as she walked through the doors. Lucius stood to greet her. "Ms. Prewett," he said, pulling out her chair.<p>

Alice rolled her eyes but took the seat. "Just call me Alice, alright? Getting called Ms. Prewett makes me feel old. We're not at one of your pompous socialite balls."

Lucius smirked. "Apologies. I'm merely used to being proper to ladies of good blood." The waiter brought their drinks.

"So…" Alice hesitated, chewing slightly on her lower lip. Her thick chestnut hair fell over her face and Lucius felt the hormonal teenager in him squirm and fizzle with desire. "Why _are _we here?"

"Because my friends beat yours at quidditch?"

Alice frowned. "You know what I mean."

"No, I don't." Lucius smiled faintly. He was pretty sure he did know, but it would be more interesting if she voiced it.

Alice rolled her eyes. "This seems like a pretty elaborate scheme to ask a girl out in the first place. And I would almost think that it was because you didn't want people to think you actually fancied me when you did, except that you can't possibly fancy me."

"Why not?"

"What—Why not?—well—because—" Alice spluttered bemusedly. "Because you're a snob and I don't meet your standards."

Lucius actually laughed at that. "I think you consider my standards to be much higher than they are." They were, of coarse, but fucking and wedding were two different things and therefore different standards applied. He had thought about this long and hard, coming to the conclusion that Alice, though a Gryffindor, was also a Pureblood and being only distantly related to Molly, she was not exactly stained by those awful Weasleys. Her father was something of a social anomaly – he didn't get out much since his wife died years ago and he seemed to hold no political opinions at all. Alice was older than almost all of her classmates, having turned sixteen in the middle of September and she was rather pretty. She had long, thick chestnut hair and deep brown-black eyes, a perky nose and dimples when she smiled. She wasn't beautiful in the way Narcissa was but she was also far feistier and there was something about her which made Lucius want to run his hand through her hair, stick it up her skirt and feel her up until she became so wet that…Well.

Finding that his thoughts were quickly derailing, Lucius focused back on the conversation at hand. "So, if you truly believe that I do no fancy you, why in the world would I ask you out?"

Alice shrugged. "I don't know. A dare? Probably to humiliate me."

Lucius almost rolled his eyes. The logic behind that statement was staggering. "Why in Merlin's name would I consider a date with myself to be humiliating?"

"I—because—I don't know." Alice's eyes narrowed. "What _is _your reason?"

"I find it unsatisfactory that I do not know you as well as I should. Your grandfather married my grandfather's cousin. I know this makes us only very distant relatives but I don't see any reason for us not to get to know each other better, especially since you're stuck on this date with me as it is."

Alice bit her lip. "I suppose…" she said cautiously.

"Good. Then what sort of dessert will you be having?"

* * *

><p>What evolved out of their date was strange and confusing and utterly <em>delicious. <em>It evolved all on its own, out of snowball fights and constant eyerolls and exasperating each other to no end. It evolved out of Alice's refusal to conform to anyone's expectations, even those of her housemates, and out of Lucius' desire to change the rules of the game in order to win.

She had her friends convinced that she'd gone mental and Lucius had his convinced that he was playing some intricate political game.

The truth was that they simply enjoyed driving each other crazy. Lucius would invite Alice to the most pompous balls and parties he could think of and she would arrive dressed in some outrageous dress or sporting the most insufferable hairstyle and they would spend the evening trying to tongue-wrestle each other into submission – at first figuratively with words and all too soon literally, with their mouths slammed together in some of the most passionate snogging that Lucius could ever imagine.

It was exhilarating and dangerous, like watching a dragon show and knowing that the protective charms could break if the handlers were not careful to keep the beasts occupied and away from the barriers. It was so much more exciting than visiting days at the Blacks and his polite and charming walks with Narcissa by the lake. Ms. Black was a lovely girl but she reminded him of a doll sometimes. Which was perhaps what he would want in a wife but not what he wanted in a lover. Narcissa, Merlin bless her, either did not notice or pretended to not notice all through seventh year that her intended spent too much time "alone" at exactly the same time that a certain Gryffindor Pureblood girl was nowhere to be found.

But then Narcissa knew the rules and so did Lucius. They both played by them remarkably well and that was going to unite them in marriage. But they still had some time before those vows had to be made and Lucius intended to make good use of it.

Very good use.

* * *

><p>While it was considered very bad form to break off a courtship, especially once contracts were known to have been drafted between the two families, it was not unheard of. And, perhaps, if it had not been for the war, for the sudden and abrasive schism in British wizarding society, Lucius may have appealed to his father to allow him to consider another bride. A Pureblood and a blossoming politician Lucius may have well been, but he was also just barely twenty-one when all hell broke loose.<p>

He and Alice had spent a week of the summer of 1975 in her parents' small summer cabin deep in the woods. He made love to her by the lake, watching as the sun lit up her skin just as it made the smooth water of the lake shimmer and sparkle.

The morning before they were to return to London, Lucius walked out onto the porch to find Alice lying naked on the grass by the water, throwing scraps of bread to a row of ducklings. The sun played in her hair and skimmed over the curves of her body. Lucius took in her firm breasts which bounced with every movement, her taunt thighs and womanly hips. Lucius shrugged out of his thin linen shirt and walked over to join her. He sat beside Alice without a word and put a hand on her buttcheak, giving it a firm squeeze.

She hummed and tossed the rest of the bread into the lake. "You didn't get enough last night?" she asked.

"I never get enough of this," he said, his tone uncharacteristically gruff. Lucius ran a hand over her leg, sliding it along her inner thigh and curling his fingers through the short hairs between her legs.

Alice laid back on her back, looking up at him. "You enjoy fucking me, admit it."

Lucius smirked. "Have I ever denied it?" He pushed himself forward so that he was on top of her with both hands on either side of her shoulders for balance. Lucius leaned down and kissed her, sucking gently on her lower lip. He nipped at the tender flesh and Alice moaned. Her hand found her wand and she flicked it, making his trousers and pants disappear. Lucius smiled hungrily into their kiss.

He leaned down and captured her breast with his lips, sucking at the nipple until it hardened. His right hand sank back down between her legs and he found her opening. His thumb stroked patters around her entrance, sometimes brushing over her clit on a wider arch, sometimes just barely missing it. Alice arched her back, fighting for more contact. Lucius knew this drove her crazy so he kept at it for some time until she was so wet that he could feel her essence moistening the fair hairs around her entrance.

"Malfoy, you bastard," Alice muttered, grabbing a fistful of his hair and tugging at it impatiently. The pain was almost negligible as Lucius was terribly hard now and her hot breath against his skin sent shivers running down his back.

Slowly, he slid one finger inside her, then another, then a third. Alice arched, meeting him halfway. "You're a dirty, dirty girl, Alice Prewett," Lucius rumbled softly against her ear. "Besmirching your honor like this. Lying with a man who is not your husband."

"And you're a right scoundrel, Mr. Malfoy," she quipped back, but the bite was missing from her tone as she could barely breath as the butterflies gathered at the pit of her stomach. Lucius thrust his fingers into her and Alice pushed her hips up again and again, her pelvis hitting his hard member, making stars erupt in front of Lucius's eyes.

"Am I now?" Lucius asked, pulling his hand away and looking at her with a mild challenge.

Alice growled. "Enough." She pushed him back and onto his side. Surprised, Lucius allowed her to roll him over onto his back. "You think you're so strong and in control, do you, Malfoy?" she smirked. Lucius smirked back at her. Alice's eyes were wild, molten with lust and desire. She slid down his body and grasped his painfully hard member in her hand, stroked the shaft twice, then lowered and took the head into her mouth.

Lucius let out a growl which was almost a moan as electricity thrummed though his body. Alice's tongue flicked over the head of his cock, then slid down the underside of the shaft and back up again. Lucius arched his hips, now understanding the desperate need that Alice had experienced just a few moments before. His hands fisted in the grass as he tried to keep control of his body and his mind but a single look down made him come undone. There was a wild, primitive beauty in the image of Alice, her hair disheveled, her face flushed and her eyes wide, lying between his legs with his cock in her mouth.

She started up a slow, tortuous rhythm only to stop and withdraw after a few seconds. Lucius struggled futilely to not whimper. "What?" he asked.

Alice smirked. "Say that you are a pompous ass."

Lucius glared at her and she just smirked. "Fine," he gave in, feeling as though he might explode if she didn't grant him his release. "I'm a pompous ass."

She smiled and lightly ran her fingers over his cock, the sensation so light and tantalizing that it felt like a million small shocks to Lucius. He thrust up into her hand and she just smiled broader. "Say I am the most beautiful woman you know."

"You are the most beautiful woman I know," Lucius conceded.

She gripped him a little harder and increased the speed of her caresses. Lucius threw his head back and bit back a moan. His vision was going hazy and the sun in his eyes seemed especially bright.

"And you want to fuck me _all the time."_

"All the time."

She bent down and took him into her mouth for another moment before withdrawing again. "And you want to marry me."

"I want to marry—" Lucius froze, suddenly realizing what he was saying. He looked down at Alice, eye wide and regarded her with disbelief. "Did you…did you just…_propose_?...While…while doing…_that_?"

Alice just looked at him steadily. "No." She said after a moment of silence.

Lucius lunged forward and grabbed her around the waist as though afraid she would run away from him. Alice laughed as he tipped her over onto her back and kissed her. So very soon he was inside her, filling her, bringing out the desire that had been cooped up for far too long this morning…

After it was done they lie entangled in each other under the late-morning sun with the distant sounds of birdsong. Several times, Alice tried to speak, but he would hush her with a kiss, not wanting to hear what he suspected she wanted to say.

Finally, however, she got it out. "I'm joining the Aurors in August."

Lucius pulled away from her just far enough to lie flat on his back and looked up at the sky. "Is this because I didn't accept your proposal?" he asked, trying to sound lighthearted. The clouds above were a light grey, not dark enough to be rainclouds but thick enough to hide the sun for a few moments when they passed over it.

"The politics are no longer politics, surely you see that. It's a civil war that's starting, Lucius. That Riddle – or whatever he calls himself now – is a danger to society."

Lucius shrugged. "His measures may be drastic but he has the right idea."

Alice huffed and sat up, crossing her arms.

"This is why we agreed to not talk about politics," he remarked, lazily.

Alice did not answer him for a very long time. "I suppose I could, with my Pure blood give in to you," she mused. "That's why we don't talk about politics, because you would rather pretend that that is what would happen. That I would…just cave at some point, realize the error of my ways. You would have me embrace the traditions, turn my back on the suffering of those who are marginalized—"

"Alice—"

"You could only have the sort of wife who would bear you sons and host your parties and raise your children to believe in blood purity." It wasn't a question.

Lucius closed his eyes. "Yes." He was far too tired, far too sleepy after the sex to have this conversation.

"I can't do that."

He already knew that. "That's why I am marrying Narcissa." It was a cruel thing to say but it had to be said. She had brought it up after all.

Alice stood and walked back into the cabin. They hardly said another word for the rest of the day until it was time to apparate to London. "You don't have to join the Aurors," Lucius told her.

"And you don't have to marry the Black girl and be a pretentious bigot."

Lucius just smiled, a little sadly this time. "Goodbye, Alice."

* * *

><p>Lucius Malfoy married Nacissa Black at the end of July of 1975. It was a grand ceremony with a traditional bedding at the end of the night. Narcissa was a true virgin: trusting, loving and pure. She was his wife and Lucius wanted nothing more than to worship her beauty and protect her.<p>

But at some point, while he was taking her maidenhead, Lucius closed his eyes and, for a brief moment, saw Alice's face and naked breasts.

It was a bad thing, and he never let it happen again.

* * *

><p>Alice Prewett's engagement to Frank Longbottom, a fellow Auror, was announced in the papers in the summer of 1976. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy had just come back from holiday and were going through the week's worth of mail in their dainty sitting room.<p>

Lucius picked up an issue of the _Prophet_, flipped to the society pages and held onto it for a moment too long, watching the photograph of Alice and Frank as they smiled and cuddled and waved. It made him sick to the stomach but he couldn't look away.

"Is everything alright, Lucius? Did something happen while we were away?" Narcissa asked softly, giving him a worried look.

Lucius looked up at her, met her eyes, and dropped the paper. "No, Cissy," he said absently. "I was just skimming the headlines…" He fiddled with a sealed envelope. "Tell me, do you feel any signs of pregnancy?"

Narcissa gave him an apologetic smile. "No, not yet."

"That's alright. We'll just keep trying."


End file.
